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Just starting out

October 6, 2010 - 1:04pm

Sudz

Just starting out

Hey all! Hopefully going to get a starter, started tonight!

My goal is in 12 days, to make a loaf of sourdough.

Now, Looking around, it seems like it's one of the harder loafs to make. I am handy with baking, but this will be my first attempt at anything with yeast! Wish me luck! I'm thinking I will start a blog on here to document my adventures (hopefully not misadventures!) through my trials!

You might have better success if you waited 3 -4 weeks for your starter to properly mature before starting to bake with it. Prior to it becoming mature, you may experience difficulties with it raising the dough and may find "strong" flavors from the various bacteria that exist in the new culture.

Or you may be lucky. Don't don't say you weren't warned.

Sourdough isn't especially difficult - after all, it's the way bread was made for centuries, before the development of our commercial yeasts. Once established, if even marginally well cared for a starter can be very stable - showing its robust nature as compared with commercial yeasts. So, all in all, a sourdough loaf is a pretty reliable thing.

Folded and stretched, folded and stretched for about 10 minutes. Looked a lot better. Little rising after 20 minutes. Put it in a lukewarm oven (off) and left the house for 4 hours. Came back to bowl FULL of dough.

Punched it down, Shaped it on a cooking sheet, Waited 20 minutes. Put it in the oven and turned the oven to 350*f. (oven was off when I put the loaf in... I wanted some more rising)

Put a breadpan of water on the bottom, and dropped a handful on the burner at 5 minutes. Sprayed cooking oil on the loaf before putting it in as well. (all I had)

That is a common occurance, but it is probably not the wild yeast and the lactobacteria causing it. You may smell a foul odor in a few days, unless you tried the pineapple juice method. I suggest you read the following sites:

It's working! Bubbles, nearly doubled in size today. Mixed in some more flour and a tad of water. Brownish fluid on the bottom. I stired it up and there was foam. Smells... not pleasant, but not rank. Just... odd.

Hi, Sudz. Sounds like you're already enjoying the process of getting to know bread-baking. I've been at it about six weeks. What I found is that you learn the most quickly by both repeating the same recipe several times and trying a variety of types of breads. That way you are learning from your mistakes on a particular bread (and thus improving it each time), while also getting broad experience with different ingredients and techniques.

The other big factor in my own progress has been reading lots of the blogs about recipes and baking experiences (both the crusty veterans and the novices) and looking at the numerous videos on techniques. The TFL search bar is your friend.

I had some issues with getting a starter started... hmmm. Anyway I finally learned that yes there are several different kinds of flours that can vary from the bromated to unbromated and can have differing protien levels. My final success was to use milk since I didn't have any bottled water and my tap has everything from Chlorine to Flouride in it. Not that those things are bad for what they do for drinking water but in the case of Sourdough Starter they are not good. I have also been working with the amount of hydration since that also seems to be an issue for some of these loaves. I probably vary around 50% to 65% hydration in my starter. Then just find some reason to use it every week and refresh it!

It doesn't smell nice. It is a beige color... It grows just over double every time it sits for a day.

My method:

Plain white flour, mixed with water to pancake batter consistancy. Ran aroundthe room with the mixture, took it outside for a breath of fresh air on the balcony... Put it on top of the fridge and covered 95% of it with cling wrap.

Added 4 Tbsp each day. Once I got to a 1 &1/3 cup, I started dumping half and adding to 1 Cup each day.

Day 3, I added one drop of vinegar to the reduced (1/2 cup) mix, then added my water and flour for its feeding.

The "bad" odor will go away once the bacteria (leuconostoc) causing it die off due to the acid they produce. Your adding a drop of vinegar helped speed the process; try another drop.

Keep feeding the starter once a day at room temperature for a couple more weeks. By that time, though not truly mature, it is at least adolescent and can be put away in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. When the time for baking arrives, remove the starter from the refrigerator and feed it with an equal weight of flour and water. Let it ferment for about eight hours and again feed it equal weights of flour and water. Let this ferment for eight to twelve hours and it should be ready to go.

By the way, almost all of the lacto bacteria and the yeast you are trying to cultivate are most probably in the flour, not the air.

I responded without having read the whole post. (sorry) I agree that you need to give a new starter time. I still think you'll be fine, but you might have to be a bit patient. When the starter doubles sooner ( 5-8 hrs?) then it is strong and ready to get to work.

from the way it's being fed. If it tastes sour (you can spit it out) try removing just a tablespoon (from the middle) and then feeding water and flour to make 1/2 cup a little thicker than pancake batter, more like toothpaste. Then stand back and see what happens. I like to cover with plastic wrap with a rubber band to hold; it lets gas escape and keeps bugs out.

I was worried earlier when you mentioned the unusual brown liquid on the bottom. This could be happening when chlorine is in the water. So to be on the safe side, I suggest letting your starter/dough water stand in a cloth covered jug or jar one day before using it. Let us know if it is still happening.

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